Comparing yourself to the hard rock mastery of Led Zeppelin is a somewhat arrogant endeavour afforded only to the most groundbreaking groups in rock and roll. Although Led Zeppelin themselves did ‘borrow’ a great deal of inspiration from forgotten blues artists, the group tended to have an air of superiority about them, with any criticism being met with fierce defence by a league of dedicated dad rock aficionados. Nevertheless, the pioneering goth rock of Bauhaus saw it fit to compare their defining track to a classic hit penned by Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin.
Taking their name from the legendary German art school, Bauhaus emerged from the unlikely surroundings of Northampton in the latter part of the 1970s. Inspired both by the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex as well as the recent punk rock revolution, Bauhaus were initially hailed as a post-punk outfit. As their career progressed, however, the group, lead by the vocal performance of Peter Murphy, became known for being among the first artists to trailblaze a dark new musical genre: goth rock.
Goth rock has a history as long and varied as it is dark and mysterious, but wherever you go to find the origins of the genre, it is difficult to ignore Bauhaus, and their debut single ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’. Taking inspiration from the Hungarian-American film actor Bela Lugosi, who portrayed Count Dracula in the 1931 film of the same name, the haunting Bauhaus single is often credited with being the first goth record of all time – though, for my money, Nico’s 1968 track ‘Facing the Wind’ is criminally overlooked in this regard.
Unsurprisingly, for a track bordering on ten minutes long, with a theme surrounding an obscure actor from the 1930s, ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ failed to chart upon its 1979 release. Nevertheless, it went on to have an undeniably huge impact on the landscape of alternative music and goth rock.
The groundbreaking quality of the song came as something of an accident, with drummer Kevin Haskins saying, “On reflection, I marvel at what we did. We were just four young kids who wanted to make something unique, without really having much idea what we were doing.”
Singer Peter Murphy went one step further, arguing, “‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ just happened to be a seminal song. It was the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ of the 1980s.” in reference to the incredibly popular Led Zeppelin song, often listed as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Arguably, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is a fairly overrated song, but it is still an incredibly bold claim to refer to ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ as being the 1980s incarnation of the song – for one thing, it didn’t even come out in the 1980s.
Once you get over the audacity of Murphy’s claims, it is easy to see the parallels between the two songs. ‘Stairway to Heaven’ would pave the way for power ballads and rock and roll epics, whereas ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ would blaze a trail for dark, brooding goth rock tracks. They’re both excellent songs that have had a massive impact on the lineage of rock music; it is simply the case that ‘Stairway to Heaven’ has a more legendary reputation due to its mainstream appeal and the reputation of Led Zeppelin dwarfing the alternative heroes of Bauhaus.